Publications

A method is described for preparing formulated sediments for use intoxicity testing. Ingredients used to prepare formulated sediments included commercially available silt, clay, sand, humic acid, dolomite, and α-cellulose (as a source of organic carbon). α-Cellulose was selected as the source of organic carbon because it is commercially available, consistent from batch to batch, and low...

Anthropogenic selenium contamination of aquatic ecosystems was first associated with cooling reservoirs of coal-fired power plants in the late 1970s, and later with drainage water from agricultural irrigation activities in the 1980s. In the 1990s, selenium contamination has been raised as a concern in the recovery of currently endangered fish in the Colorado River system. Widespread...

This document describes procedures used to collect information, tissues, and fluids for documenting the exposure of fish to environmental contaminants. For the procedures described here, fish are captured (preferably by electrofishing) and held alive until processing (generally

A substantial amount of laboratory and field research on selenium effects to biota has been accomplished since the national water quality criterion was published for selenium in 1987. Many articles have documented adverse effects on biota at concentrations below the current chronic criterion of 5 μg/L. This commentary will present information to support a national water quality criterion...

The 2,300-acre Lisbon Bottom Unit, located in central Missouri, became part of the Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge (NFWR) after the Great Flood of 1993 devastated the Unit's farmland and network of levees. As a result, interdisciplinary studies were initiated through collaboration among various researches, universities, and State and Federal conservation agencies to...

When sufficient data are available, the statistical power of a test can be determined using power analysis procedures. The term “detectable significance” has been coined to refer to this criterion based on power analysis and past performance of a test. This power analysis procedure has been performed with sea urchin (Arbacia punctulata) fertilization and embryological development data...

Previous research on the distribution of Neosho madtoms, which are Federally-listed as threatened, indicated a positive relationship between density of Neosho madtoms and cumulative density of other riffle-dwelling benthic fishes. This suggested that interspecific competition was not limiting Neosho madtom populations. We provide further evidence that interspecific competition is not...

Benthic macroinvertebrates with elevated concentrations of metals were collected from the Coeur d'Alene (CDA) River, Idaho, pasteurized, and fed to cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarki in the laboratory from start of feeding until 90 d posthatch. Invertebrates were collected from two sites known to contain elevated concentrations of metals: near Pinehurst in the South Fork of the CDA...

Spawning migration of adult male chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha was monitored by radio telemetry to determine their response to the presence of metals contamination in the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River, Idaho. The North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River is relatively free of metals contamination and was used as a control. In all, 45 chinook salmon were transported from...

During the last 160 years, land-use changes in the Ozarks have had the potential to cause widespread, low-intensity delivery of excess amounts of gravel-sized sediment to stream channels. Previous studies have indicated that this excess gravel bedload is moving in wave-like forms through Ozarks drainage basins. The longitudinal, areal distribution of gravel bars along 160 km of the...

Work was performed to determine the feasibility of selectively detoxifying organic contaminants in sediments. The results of this research will be used to aid in the development of a scheme for whole-sediment toxicity identification evaluations (TIEs). The context in which the method will be used inherently restricts the treatments to which the sediments can be subjected: Sediments...

The use of lipid-containing semipermeable membrane devices (SPMDs) is becoming commonplace, but very little sampling rate data are available for the estimation of ambient contaminant concentrations from analyte levels in exposed SPMDs. We determined the aqueous sampling rates (R(s)s; expressed as effective volumes of water extracted daily) of the standard (commercially available design)...